The World Without Exploitation response to Survivors’ Agenda’s support of full decriminalization of the sex trade.

The decision of Survivors’ Agenda to promote full decriminalization of the sex trade is antithetical to a human rights and gender justice vision. It is a clear violation of what Survivors’ Agenda purports to stand for: elevating the voices of all survivors as we engage in a national conversation about sexual violence.

The sex trade is predicated on racial, gender, and income inequality and driven by the demand for commercial sex. It is an industry in which men with privilege and disposable income buy sexual access to women and girls, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and others who are mostly poor and of color. Full decriminalization serves the interests of the powerful, not the vulnerable and exploited.

Over the last nine weeks, hundreds of survivors urged Survivors’ Agenda to instead support a partial decriminalization position, (1) decriminalizing those sold in prostitution, (2) providing those persons with exit strategies, and (3) holding accountable those who exploit — the pimps, buyers and brothel owners. Our survivor community met with the Survivors’ Agenda leadership, sharing their perspectives, expertise, and personal experiences. They sent a letter signed by more than 200 sex trade survivors, stating that for far too long conversations around #MeToo and #TimesUp have ignored the voices of those who have been bought, sold, or exploited. They respectfully requested a seat at the table as a national agenda was developed.

But instead of including sex trade survivors, Survivors’ Agenda deliberately ignored those voices and erased their realities from the agenda presented on September 23rd. Nowhere in the Survivors’ Agenda’s platform on sexual violence is an acknowledgment of the harm and sexual violence that are inherent in the commercial sex trade. Sex trade survivors are virtually invisible in this document.

We again urge Survivors’ Agenda to listen to the vital voices of those who have been bought, sold, and exploited in the sex trade. Survivors’ Agenda cannot call itself truly inclusive of their perspectives if it stands in support of policies that would legitimize the exploitation of the most vulnerable among us. If this agenda is truly a living document, as asserted, we call on Survivors’ Agenda to reconsider their deeply harmful position in support of legalizing the purchase of sexual access to the bodies of the most marginalized.